


around each other, they melt

by theappleppielifestyle



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-21 16:43:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2475233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theappleppielifestyle/pseuds/theappleppielifestyle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Tony are confronted with some truths that they've been ignoring for a long time.</p>
<p>For example, they're stupid in love with each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	around each other, they melt

It stops being funny after-

Or, no. It was never funny, and Tony is sure the others are only laughing out of spite, because come  _on_. 

"We don’t act like that," Tony insists for the third time, and Steve echoes an affirmation, which have been getting flimsier as Natasha and Clint’s acting has gotten more dramatic.

Around them, Thor is laughing and Bruce has long since stopped holding back giggles. Clint!Steve and Natasha!Tony go back to pointedly ignoring each other, before Natasha gasps, dropping the book she had been pretending to read, and Clint makes a big show out of running to her side.

"What happened," Clint says, in an awful, awful Brooklyn accent that makes Steve wince when he hears it. "Do I need to carry you to the infirmary, Tony? With my big, strong muscles?"

"It’s just a papercut, Cap," Natasha says, sighing, and Clint kicks the book she had been holding, hissing insults at it for hurting his ‘beloved Tony.’

"Come on, guys," Steve tries wearily, his face pinched. "Lets’ just-"

"I’m going to go lick my wounds in my workshop, where I will forget to eat until Steve shoves a sandwich under my nose," Natasha declares loudly, and Clint clasps his own chest.

"And I will sulk and pretend I’m not sulking until you resurface!" Clint looks over at Natasha, who dramatically turns her head away for a moment before glancing back at Clint, who looks away before their gazes can meet. They both sigh heartily.

"That’s enough," Steve says, quiet, but firm enough that both Natasha and Clint break character to look at him. "You’ve made your point."

Something in Steve’s voice, strained and defeated, worries Tony, and it doesn’t go unnoticed by the others. Thor clears his throat, tamping down on his laughter and clapping Bruce on the shoulder. “Ay, my friends! We should rejoin with the others, and drink and make merry!”

"If that’s code for ‘sneak off and have sex with Jane,’ I want no part of it," Clint says, accent thankfully gone. 

They start to move for the door, but Steve stays put, hands in his pockets.

"Steve?" Bruce says. "You with us?"

Steve’s smile is short-lived. “I think I’m gonna hang back tonight, thanks anyway.”

Tony doesn’t miss the looks that get exchanged between the rest of his teammates before Bruce says, “Ah, okay,” and all but drags Tony out the door behind him.

"We may have gone too far," Natasha says as soon as the door closes. "Tell Steve we’re sorry about that, please."

Tony blinks. “Tell him yourself. And can I just say, though the dialogue was bullshit, you are freakishly good at adopting my mannerisms. You even did my facial expressions. It was creepy.”

"Thank you," Natasha smiles. "Now go fix Steve."

The rest of the team nods in agreement, and Tony- is not following where this conversation is going. At all.

"You go fix him, you’re the ones that offended him!"

Clint snorts. “Did he look offended to you?”

"Well, no, he looked-" Tony pauses. "Hurt, actually. Which- god, dick move, guys, what’d he ever do to you?"

"It was a necessary evil," Natasha says. "But I think we messed up. I didn’t lay it on thick enough that you’re just as crazy about Steve as he is about you, and now he thinks you know about his creepy crush and don’t return his feelings."

Tony takes a second to process that. “Um. What?”

"That was not the face of a man who has just realized his feelings are returned," Thor says gravely, and Tony remembers the dejected slouch of Steve’s shoulders, the sad smile that Steve has gotten far too good at.

"Oh," Tony says. Steve- has feelings. For  _Tony_. “Shit.”

-

Steve is sitting on the roof when Tony finally finds him, his fake Bruce glasses sticking out of his pocket. He startles when he sees Tony. “Shouldn’t you be at the party?”

"You know I hate parties," Tony says, and Steve frowns.

"You like small ones. In small doses."

"And this one is a little too big for me," Tony says, sitting down on the concrete next to Steve. "Star-gazing?"

Steve huffs, arms curling around his knees. He tips his chin up to stare at the sky, where there isn’t one star in sight. “New Yorkers aren’t much for star-gazing, I’ve found. Too much smog.”

Tony nods, watching Steve’s face until Steve turns to look at him, at which point Tony looks away and then surprises himself with a laugh- maybe Natasha and Clint weren’t so off-track after all.

"Nat and Clint weren’t trying to be assholes," Tony says, and Steve’s face tightens.

"Mm," he says, eyes on the sky again. "Sure seems like they were."

"It wasn’t their intention," Tony tries. "They were trying to help, in their own screwed up way. And hey, I figure it was a last resort. Everyone’s talked to me about it at least once and I always ignored them."

Steve’s fingers tap a tattoo on his knee. “Talked to you about what?”

Tony’s throat clicks as he meets Steve’s eyes.  _It’s okay, I’m allowed, he wants me to_. “Us,” he says, and Steve’s jaw tightens with panic, his gaze darts to his knees, the concrete, back up to Tony.

"I’m sorry if I ever made you feel uncomfortable," Steve blurts after a moment. "With the- staring, and the mooning over you. I know it’s kind of pathetic-"

"Only as pathetic as me mooning over you," Tony says, and forces the next words out: "Or me saying we should practice midair holds just so I have an excuse to hold you. Or liking when you fall asleep during movie night, because you always rest your head on my shoulder and I can look at you for as long as I like without being worried you’ll catch me. Or getting fucking butterflies when you laugh, that one I’m more than a little embarrassed about, I’m forty, for god’s sake."

Steve is smiling now, a small, nervous, flickering thing. “Wow.”

"Mm-hmm."

"Wow," Steve says, and takes a breath. "I get butterflies sometimes," he admits. "Mostly when you smile at me."

"Yeah?" Tony grins, and Steve’s breath hitches. Tony grins harder, reaching out to grace his fingers against Steve’s belly. "Those pesky butterflies?"

"Yeah," Steve says, hesitating before his hand comes up to cover Tony’s, linking their fingers together. "Hey, Tony?"

"Steve."

"Do you want to- be an ‘us?’ Date?"

"Very much," Tony says, and they’re both grinning now, nervous and giddy.

Steve swallows. “Good,” he says, and ducks forwards to kiss Tony’s cheek. 

Tony blinks- he can’t remember the last time anyone did that. It’s oddly sweet, which is Steve all over.

"A little to the right," he says, and Steve leans in, pausing to run his free hand through Tony’s hair before thumbing at the hinge of Tony’s jaw, stroking lightly as he closes the gap between them and kisses Tony sweetly on the mouth.

The butterflies return with a vengeance.

**Author's Note:**

> here's my [tumblr](http://theappleppielifestyle.tumblr.com/).


End file.
